Flora
A cozy flower shop sim about friendship and new beginnings.
Play it here: https://pxthella.itch.io/flora
My Design Process
Initial Pitch
The first step of creating our game was to decide what we actually wanted to make. All 8 members of my group put forward a one-slide pitch, and the image to the left shows my submission for this. I was mostly focused here on defining the gameplay and main narrative in order to communicate what type of game this will be, and get a general idea of our audience. From here, we narrowed down all 8 pitches to three based on a few factors - what we liked, what was within scope, and what fit our group and their skills. Flora was one of the three pitches chosen to be taken forward.
Refined Pitch Slide 1 - Design
The image above is the first half of my refined pitch that we presented to our project tutors. This slide focuses on the actual design of the game, specifically the main gameplay loop and the visuals, using existing games as reference.
Refined Pitch Slide 2 - Specifications
The image above is the second half of my refined pitch. This slide focuses on the specifications of development - what roles will each group member take on? What is our target scope/ideal outcome? And what is the minimum viable product?
The image above is the core game loop.
There are two different types of NPCs - each serves a different purpose.
Basic NPCs
Narrative NPCs
Basic NPCs exist to fuel the core game loop. They encourage the daily routine of growing and selling flowers. They are a form of mechanic progression.
Narrative NPCs exist to push the narrative an keep the player engaged in the store. They are a form of narrative progression.
Flora GDD.pdfGDD
The document to the left is the GDD that I created for this project. This defines the core game loop and the three design pillars of this object. This is to be referenced throughout the process, and all design decisions should link back to this. It also explores the player motivations and how progression will occur in this game. Finally, an asset list and character description has been created for the artists and the narrative designer to work from, along with the main game mechanics for the programmers.